You should now have an operational Apache2 web server! There are a few ways to test this:

You should now have an operational Apache2 web server! There are a few ways to test this:

−

* From the web server

+

−

** command line<br />

+

=== From the web server ===

+

==== command line ====

# Use a basic Internet tool to download the web server's starting page

# Use a basic Internet tool to download the web server's starting page

wget http://localhost/ ~/

wget http://localhost/ ~/

Line 51:

Line 52:

cat /var/www/index.html

cat /var/www/index.html

cat ~/index.html

cat ~/index.html

−

:* GUI (untested)

+

==== GUI (untested) ====

−

::* Open the web browser (probably Midori)

+

* Open the web browser (probably Midori)

−

::* Browse to the following URL:

+

* Browse to the following URL:

http://localhost/

http://localhost/

−

::* You should see the following text (except with a bit more formatting):

+

* You should see the following text (except with a bit more formatting):

It works!

It works!

This is the default web page for this server.

This is the default web page for this server.

The web server software is running but no content has been added, yet.

The web server software is running but no content has been added, yet.

−

* From another computer, using a web browser

+

=== From another computer, using a web browser ===

−

** Get the web server's IP address

+

* Get the web server's IP address

ifconfig eth0

ifconfig eth0

# Sample output from the previous "ifconfig eth0" command

# Sample output from the previous "ifconfig eth0" command

Line 71:

Line 72:

RX bytes:11645538 (11.1 MiB) TX bytes:443716 (433.3 KiB)

RX bytes:11645538 (11.1 MiB) TX bytes:443716 (433.3 KiB)

−

:: The IP address of the default network card is listed after the "inet addr:" title. (In my example above, the IP address of my web server is "192.168.2.123". Write down the IP address of your web server - you're going to use it during the next step

+

: The IP address of the default network card is listed after the "inet addr:" title. (In my example above, the IP address of my web server is "192.168.2.123". Write down the IP address of your web server - you're going to use it during the next step

−

:* Browse the web server from another computer using a GUI

+

* Browse the web server from another computer using a GUI

−

::* Open the web browser

+

** Open the web browser

−

::* Browse to the following URL:

+

** Browse to the following URL:

<pre>http://<ip_address_of_web_server>/</pre>

<pre>http://<ip_address_of_web_server>/</pre>

−

::* You should see the following text (except with a bit more formatting):

+

:* You should see the following text (except with a bit more formatting):

Installing Apache 2.x Web Server on Raspberry Pi

This is a guide to install the Apache HTTP Server "Apache" on the Raspberry Pi computer running Debian "squeeze". The core of this guide is a basic installation of Apache, configured to serve static HTML pages. The serving of dynamic HTML pages via additional software like PHP and Ruby on Rails is beyond the scope of this guide, although these instructions could be used as a foundation before installing those additional components.

The guide has been developed/tested using debian6-19-04-2012. A standard 2Gb image has enough room for this install, although you may want to use a larger image to give yourself a bit more elbow room on the already-cramped root folder. (Learn how to expand your image here or here.) This guide requires a network connection.

The installation was all done from the basic (pre startx) command prompt.

Prep Work

A little Debian/Apache foreknowledge: The default Debian install of Apache will be configured to run in the "www-data" user space, and use the "www-data" group. The version of Debian used for this guide (debian6-19-04-2012) already includes the "www-data" user, but not the "www-data" group. The following commands will create the "www-data" group, and add the "www-data" user to the newly-created group:

A touch more Debian/Apache foreknowledge: The default Debian install of Apache will be configured to serve HTML pages from the "/var/www" folder. While this folder is created during the Apache2 install process, it will likely be created with the wrong owner:group (root:root). We can ensure a smoother install and successful running of Apache2 by creating this folder ahead of time and changing owner:group to www-data:www-data.

Install Apache2

The "apache2" package requires the installation of a slew of additional packages (often called "dependencies"). Press "Y", then "enter" (or just "enter", as "Y" is the default response), and sit back while the "apt-get" package manager does its thing. Towards the end of the install, you should see a few lines that look like this:

Check That The Default Home Page Was Created

If the "/var/www" folder was created and ownership of the folder was reassigned to "www-data:www-data", then a new file should have been created during the install process: "/var/www/index.html". This is the default page of your website. The following command should display the following text:

The IP address of the default network card is listed after the "inet addr:" title. (In my example above, the IP address of my web server is "192.168.2.123". Write down the IP address of your web server - you're going to use it during the next step

Browse the web server from another computer using a GUI

Open the web browser

Browse to the following URL:

http://<ip_address_of_web_server>/

You should see the following text (except with a bit more formatting):

It works!
This is the default web page for this server.
The web server software is running but no content has been added, yet.

Next Steps

Specify Your Timezone

It is a good idea to have your web server's internal clock synchronized with the rest of the world. Specify your timezone.

Assign A Static IP Address

Configure The SSH Daemon

Speaking of accessing your web server from other computers, adding the SSH daemon to the boot process will allow you to remotely log in to your web server as though you were sitting in front of it. Here's the code to have the SSH daemon autorun when the computer boots up: